Details of 42 police officers and staff contained in missing pages of notebook lost on motorway

A Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) patrol car equipped with Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras in Belfast.
Credit: Niall Carson / PA Images
Police say a 'significant amount' of the notebook that fell from the roof of a moving car on Thursday has been recovered.

The PSNI have said the details of 42 officers and staff were contained in missing sections of a notebook which fell from a moving car.

The notebook, along with a laptop, fell from the vehicle on the Foreshore stretch of the M2 at around 4.15pm on Thursday.

Police said the individuals affected have been "directly contacted" by line managers and senior management.

In a statement issued to UTV, the police said the laptop was "immediately deactivated and has since been recovered".

They explained that a "significant amount of the notebook has since been recovered" but that "some sections remain outstanding".

"Our enquiries are continuing to establish the contents.

"It was confirmed that some of the outstanding pages, which contained details of some officers and staff, have not yet been recovered," the statement added.

"We have contacted those involved to make them aware.“Forty-two officers and staff have been specifically identified as being affected and directly contacted last night by line managers and senior management.

"In addition, the entire Branch affected has been informed about the circumstances of the incident."We are liaising with the Office of the Information Commissioner and have advised the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Department of Justice."Anyone with information or who recovers any material is asked to contact police on 101."

Earlier this month, the surname and initials of 10,000 PSNI employees were released in a major data breach in response to a Freedom of Information request.

In July, a police-issue laptop and radio, as well as a document containing the names of more than 200 staff were reportedly stolen from a private vehicle in Newtownabbey.

The PSNI said following the incident, the contents of the computer had been remotely erased while the radio was deactivated.

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